There are more than 20,800 hotel rooms in Orange County...

There are more than 20,800 hotel rooms in Orange County, but developers always feel there is room for more. Along the Orange Coast, in addition to the nearing-completion 332-room Resort at Pelican Hill and the under-construction 400-room addition to Marriott’s Newport Coast Villas timeshare, two new hotels are being proposed in the City of Irvine.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts will operate an upscale 170-room hotel planned near the intersection of Von Karman Avenue and Main Street. The proposed hotel is called “hip, sassy and refreshing with a unique social environment” and will feature nine-foot ceilings and oversized windows “with an urban-like feeling.” How hip? The hotel will be named “aloft” – yes, without a capital a.

The second Irvine hotel, planned for Fitch Drive just off MacArthur Boulevard and the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway, will have 132 rooms but has no brand name as of yet.

In neighboring Tustin, three small hotels totaling 400 rooms are planned by the developer of Legacy Park, the mixed-use urban center to rise on the former Marine Corps Air Station.